Phnom Penh, Cambodia
There are few things I dislike in this world. Green peppers, Paris Hilton, the public clipping of toe nails – minor annoyances. All superficial really.
But one thing that’s creeped onto that pet peeve list lately is graffiti. Not the arty, subversive Banksy-type stuff gritty’ing up inner-city walls, but the handwritten crap that scars tourist attractions across the globe. The “I-was-here-but-now-I’m-gone-so-I-left-my-name-to-turn-you-on” variety – scrawled, scratched, and scribbled by Sharpie-wielding halfwits on holidays.
What compels these morons to impart lowbrow limericks or “Joanie + Chachi 4Ever” missives I’m not sure. Bathroom walls are one thing, but on sacred and solemn sites? Tsk, tsk. One thing I do know…
Kevin from Cork, Ireland is one of those morons.
There shouldn’t need to be signs reminding you not to write on the walls here, but regardless, idiots like our pal Kevin do just that.
This is the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
In quieter times, it was a high school. Nicknamed S-21, Pol Pot’s communist Khmer Rouge regime used it as a prison during its rise to power in 1975 up to its fall in 1979.
Today it is a museum documenting the thousands who were tortured and murdered both here and at nearby Choeung Ek – the most infamous of the Killing Fields of Cambodia.
When Tuol Sleng was discovered by the invading Vietnamese army in 1979, combat photographer Ho Van Tay documented what he saw when he entered each cell. Today, his chilling photos are on display in each of the rooms.
Of the up to 20,000 people who were imprisoned here, only 7 made it out alive.
The sad thing is, Kevin is not alone. There are hundreds of feeble-minded vandals armed with markers, crayons, and yes, even lipstick, who feel the need to deface in a multitude of languages.
I don’t get it. And I’m not sure what else to say.
Except maybe…
Kevin from Cork, Ireland (and those like you)…you SUCK!
America 
Canada 
Oman 
I’m not sure what else to say, either. Just that I’m as disgusted as you are about the graffiti at Tuol Sleng. I haven’t visited there, but know of the atrocities at this site. Thanks for your post.
It was unreal — I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
I couldn’t agree with you more! The vandalism you are writing about is especially sickening, but I’ve seen it on historic and religious sites myself and always wondered who would ever find it acceptable. Kevin from Cork really does suck.
The world is full of arseholes. Thankfully there are the minority, but they sure do make a mess.
Unforgiveable lack of tact.
Yes it just makes me angry how insensitive some people can be.
How unfortunate! The fact that there’s even a sign reminding them not to write on the walls but was ignored is unforgivable
Yes it’s sad that there is a sign. Even sadder that it’s completely ignored.
I totally agree with you; it really does annoy me when I see such pointless graffiti at places like Tuol Sleng or historical monument! Besides that, impressive photos of Tuol Sleng mate!
Thanks for the compliment!
Ugh, complete lack of respect.
PS I’m with you on the public toe-nail clipping.
Any public nail clipping is gross…
My pet peeve is people who litter at memorials and other attractions. Even when there are plenty of bins around, some jerk always leaves their drink bottle or ice cream wrapper stuck into a crevice or in a corner somewhere.
I also took some photos of drink containers at the museum too. What a sad sad world we live in…
how stoopid does someone have to be to do this?! i hate this as much as people throwing litter out of their car window.
I saw LOTS of litter being chucked in Vietnam.
I agree that defacing sites of genocide, torture, horror, etc. is absolutely disgusting and tasteless. But why the little classist dig (“cheap vacations, one would assume”)? Have you never met rich people who are also ignorant, selfish, and stupid? They certainly exist.
Thanks for commenting Michael. I’ve met scads of classless rich folk. I’ve also removed the dig…it didn’t flow that well, and I think it reads better. Thanks!
Kevin is an @$$.
I agree — a total jack@$$
that just frustrates me. why deface ANY place. Go tag your own home and leave everywhere else alone. I get so annoyed when I see that it just makes me want punch someone…
It’s senseless really. But I’m right there with you on the punching bit…
That is just sad
Sad and disgusting. Thanks for stopping by Micamyx!
How insensitive can you get? Why do these ignorants even bother to travel? I’m disgusted and yes, Kevin &Co suck… BIG TIME.
Yes people like that should just stay at home. They obviously aren’t learning anything…
that is SO NOT COOL. why vandal? can’t they just keep their babblings on paper? geez…
I’m surprised half of those idiots can even write…
“You suck” does work nicely. Aside from that, what a powerful post.
Thanks Abby.
I don’t get it. WHY would people do something like that? It is SO ignorant. They do suck. I am looking forward to going to Cambodia and seeing this. Hopefully there won’t be heaps more idiotic “I was here” marks …
Some folks were trying to leave a message like “Stop War” or “Join Amnesty International”, but that message is certainly cheapened when it’s scraped into a wall near where thousands were murdered.
You will love Cambodia though…
Wow. Thanks for sharing that, Raymond. Seriously, what is going through the heads of people who choose to deface historical sites? Disgraceful.
It seems people sometimes don’t have much if anything going on in their heads.
(Thanks for commenting Sheena!)
I don’t get it at all either. I was speechless and humbled when I went there, it was so difficult to see. I saw couples together where the girl posed for photos – so weird!
That’s just weird. I felt self-conscious even just taking photos — let alone having someone pose in them…
We hear you! It’s beyond our mental capacity (obviously- because we cannot figure out for the life of us) the purpose or draw to do this and ruin our experience as travellers.
Thanks Newf!
Nancy & Shawn
They need a good boot in the arse…
I just don’t understand people. Somehow this location just seems worse than if it was in a city park! Show some respect for people and property. Grrrrrrr
The fact that thousands were butchered only metres away makes it even worse. Zero respect.
Normally, I hate graffiti, but I actually found some of the expressions of hope, deity, rebuttal at Tuol Sleng really interesting and cathartic. Where there’s no other way to express ones self, people will find a way.
I think there was a guestbook there. Perhaps that would have been a better avenue.
i hate all graffiti like that. it’s not even art. :/ ugh. hate it.
Thanks for stopping by Suki — I completely agree with you on this one…
Vandalism like this is sickening, and more than anything else, selfish. It’s a complete lack of respect for anything but self gratification. Ugh.
People suck sometimes. A lot.
I have seen graffiti in quite a few places where I would not expect it. The only reasoning I can think of is that these people do not have any concept that the world is not about them. They have had an idyllic lifestyle and do not have the ability to connect with the places they see. They just come and go instead of really understanding what that place is about.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. They’re just checking a site off their list — paying no real attention to what their actions cause.
I’m appalled that someone would do such a thing in such a sacred place. I think you’ve summed it up best with your title.
Thanks Laurel. Sad thing is there are a LOT of Kevins out there.
Very immature. And I suppose (or hope, at least) most of these scribblers are very young.
Funny though – in Egypt, I noticed heaps of ‘graffiti’ from the late 1800s. Instead of writing, people used hammers and chisels, carving their names onto monuments. Worse in a way, as it’s so difficult to get rid of. Yet, since the vandalism was from so long ago, it became interesting in its own right. Easier to forgive the idiots of the past, perhaps…
I’ve noticed ancient graffiti in Egypt as well — some from the 1700′s even. It was interesting indeed, but I don’t think some of the stuff scribbled at Tuol Sleng has the same staying power or appeal.
I think it comes down to selfishness and dismissiveness. these are small actions, but they speak to a much bigger issue.
Yes is makes you wonder if they act like this at solemn sites, what are they like day-to-day?
Kevin from Cork aside, I never realize the true brutality of the Khmer Rouge. I knew Pol Pot was evil but this is sickening. I’ve spent time touring Dachau and Auschwitz and no one would think of leaving their names there. Not sure why people would think it is OK here!
I’ve been to Dachau as well as the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem — it would be unthinkable to leave graffiti at either.
of all the places… (sigh)… dont know what to say.. i personally didnt noticed the vandals when i was there because i went out right away.. couldnt take it that much especially after seeing the pics of the kids that were killed
It is such a raw and brutal place. I just don’t get the disrespect some people have there.
I can’t even form words right now. Maybe I’m naive, but I just wouldn’t think that someone would be that ignorant to be so disrespectful at a place like this. In a pub bathroom wall, sure, you’re still an idiot, but who cares…
UGH… and I can’t believe you don’t like green peppers, they are SOOOOOSOSOSOS delicious!
You can have my green peppers any day. Gimme your red though.
It really is sad that people treat sacred spaces like a bathroom wall. I don’t get it.
Erica I don’t get it either. It’s sickening.
I will never understand why people do this, especially in places like this.
I’ll never understand it either.
Very interesting post! I can imagine the frustration.
It was bordering on anger.
I can’t help but thing that this is man’s earliest version of twitter. It is instant gratification, to document something that has gone through ones mind. Perhaps thought provoking, perhaps the result of being dropped one too many times on the floor as an infant. It is an opportunity to connect or provoke a grandiose thought or to share a brain fart that you wish you could vacuum the second it has made its way to the masses, aka the internet. Perhaps we could look at this in the same manner that we do with a simple tweet, an opportunity to glimpse into social feedback at the time. No different that that graffiti in the hall of mirrors at Versailles or the ancient marking in the various sites of Athens. In retrospect, the ancient graffiti seemed slightly entertaining to me some how. Maybe when left alone, some one in the near future with or without functioning brain mass will reflect on ancient markings from the 21 century with the glee of a 15 year our with a huge black jiffy marker.
Except on Twitter, I choose who I follow. Here, everyone who strolls by gets hit in the face with this shite. And I think you’re right about the being dropped on the head bit.
I always enjoy the compelling angles you come up with to tell the story of a place – will stick with me.
Thanks Margo! Much appreciated!!
Totally agree with you. We visit sacred places like this NOT to find out who has been here. Such an eyesore, those ‘graffiti’. I hope more people will be aware of what a nuisance this is, so that there will still be some nice and unpolluted wall left 10 years down the road!
PS: I’m surprised why I didn’t follow you earlier too!
It’s a real eyesore for sure, and so disrespectful.
P.S. (Thanks for joining the flock!)
That is so sad. We were there in 2003 and I don’t recall seeing graffiti. What is compelling people to do this anywhere let alone at such a tragic location. IT is impossible to walk through Tuol Sleng without becoming emotional. What happened there was horrific.
It is such a very sad place. The fact that people deface it makes it even worse…
Kevin from Cork certainly ain’t cool – more of a tool
I couldn’t agree with you more!
I SO agree with you, but at what point does graffiti become ‘history’? In some places in OZ, name/date/’woz here’ type graffiti has been preserved as historic because it was made in the 1800′s!!
I doubt that the graffiti at S-21 will become history. Some of it is in lipstick.
Agreed. So obnoxious!
The one exception from my travels was a gazebo on Kuata in Fiji. They encouraged people to sign and it was kind of cool to leave your mark.
When it’s encouraged it’s fine. When there are signs that say please don’t write on the walls, then that just boils my blood!!
Only 7 leave it alive? Gosh.. That’s really awful. And I’m wondering, what’s the condition of those 7 when they left the place. Seeing photos of the victims is already more than enough to make me shiver. I also wondering, same with you, why there are some people who did such a stupid unnecessary thing like that?
I believe that only one of them is still living. Quite sad indeed…
I agree the graffiti is just pathetic. People need to have respect.
It’s really saddening to see.
I remember being amazed by that as well. Some people just don’t seem to get it. I remember when I was there I saw a western couple snogging in one of the corners. Surely there is a time and place?
And S-21 is not it.
I know what you mean. There was a couple when I was there as well who wandered through each room just chatting about nonsense — school, restaurants, what they were doing on the weekend. Everyone else was in silence out of respect, but not those two. Not sure why there are so many people who just don’t get it…
Thats it, people just don’t get it. I don’t understand sometimes. Or someone saying “It is so boring, there is nothing to do there.” They missed the point entirely.
Just that I’m as disgusted as you are about the graffiti at Tuol Sleng. I haven’t visited there, but know of the atrocities at this site. Thanks for your post.
Yes it’s sort of disgusting that people can be so disrespectful. Thanks for taking the time to comment…
Just looking at the photos of the cells and the victims has filled me with disgust and sadness. I can’t imagine what I’d feel like if I was there in person but I KNOW I wouldn’t feel the urge to leave my mark by adding graffiti to the walls. It’s a worry that people can be so desensitised as to even think about doing that!
Julia
We live in a scary age when people find stuff like this acceptable.
Maybe a guest book, or even a graffiti wall would give the wannabe graffiti artist somewhere to release the emotional artist which is lurking inside him. Don’t like graffiti myself, but some people obviously do, i guess you could liken it to a dog leaving it’s mark.
I like your dog analogy. These folks leave a lasting stench though…
That’s unfortunate. I have not heard of the Genocide Museum but plan on going when Gerard and I are in Cambodia next year. Those #’s are heart-breakingly shocking. Thanks for sharing the photos. I hate Kevin too!
Oh, and totally with you on the public nail clipping thing. Yuck.
I sure do hope Kevin reads this. And public nail clipper people too.
This pisses me off, too. It’s one thing to write on bathroom stalls, but another entirely to write on walls at sites meant to honor and remember people who suffered terribly.
Yes it’s pretty disheartening to see garbage like this at such a sombre site.
Crazy! Friends of mine driving by car from italy to Mongolia were also doubting about the intelligence of human kind by seeing that (Monastiri in Turkey) http://www.flickr.com/photos/highwaytokhan/6045257059/in/photostream
I get so sad when I see photos like that. Why do so many people just not get it?!?
Was there yesterday and saw exactly what you did and more. Idiot tourists posing on the hanging gallows, getting the young Cambodian girls they had brought with them to take the perfect photos of their pose. Saw one ‘gent’ actually spit on the site… sigh…if only there was a filtering system to keep them out, but I guess that is the price of democracy…every one gets a chance..in this case to be a moron.
Posing in the gallows? That’s just twisted. God, some people are just unbelievable!
Did forget to say that this is a great blog post (wish I had though of it!) as the number of times you see this kind of thing drives me crazy. Would it be an outrageous call that anyone found with a marker pen in a place of historic or cultural significance is taken out the back and the S***t slapped out of them? Does that make me a bad person?
Keep up the good work man on the Lam!
Thanks Ted! Much appreciated. I would volunteer a few kicks in the sh** kicking of said individuals.
oh my. don’t know what to say. except: Kevin, you suck!
it makes me really sad when people do this. here in Berlin there’s a “new tourist attraction” at Potsdamer Platz where you can find a piece of the Berlin Wall… and several weeks ago people started sticking their chewing gums on it. every day there are new ones. so sad.
People just don’t think sometimes.
I agree that graffiti in a place like this is disrespectful. It would be awesome if Kevin from Ireland came across this post.
I hope his mother reads it.
What a shame! But you’re right, graffiti like this seems to be everywhere, which is really disheartening. I see it a lot on the rocks and deserted habitations of the Native Americans when I travel to the national parks.
It’s weird but you see grafitti in the most unusual places. You would think that the people who go on hikes to remote areas are the ones who appreciate the value of nature, but sadly, that’s not always the case.
I get SO mad at people that graffiti places. Especially historical monuments or natural beauties! I wish I could catch them in the act but have never seen anyone actually doing it.
I would love to catch them in the act too!! I would have to spray paint a few choice words across their face…
That’s so terrible. I hate seeing graffiti like that. It’s everywhere, too. I saw it at the pyramids in Egypt and have seen it in so many other inappropriate places. Thanks for calling attention to it.
Thanks for commenting. It really is sad to see such great sites ruined by the likes of this.
Wow! Brilliantly put! I can’t believe that even the thought “ooo i should write my name here” even crosses people’s mind when they go to a place like that! shameful!
Thanks Jade. Unfortunately the world is filled with morons and simpletons. Just like this dufus Kevin.
Like everyone else, cannot fathom why anyone would do this.
S21 and the Killing Fields are two of the most sobering places I have ever visited. I can’t imagine even thinking about writing anything on the walls!
Strong stuff this. And Kevin from Cork – whoever you are, you’re looking for trouble if we ever come across you.
We share a pet peeve on this one. I have never understood the childish desire to write your name on things. If somebody really feels the need to write their name on something they should go somewhere that allows it. Like Gino’s Pizza in Chicago. It’s a giant guest book!
I am trying to be charitable.
I think that Kevin and others were trying to reduce in their minds what happened there because they cannot grasp it, they cannot imagine what went on there.
They can see the photos, but they cannot let the reality in – but the imagery is so powerful that it starts to creep in – so they scribble a bit of their own ‘normal’ identity on the walls to blot that reality out.
Or – not being charitable – they are mindless idiots – there are plenty of those about, too.
Or, and this is a sobering thought – the Cambodians who carried out these atrocities were just people too. Perhaps Kevin in another life might have been one of them.
They also have a reminder asking you not to run and laugh, which you would also have thought, in a sane world, redundant. But, yeah, Kevin from Cork sucks Satan’s cock…
T I love that you’re starting the new year speaking your mind!!
Kevin is a loser, a really pathetic human being that apparently needs the world to think he is important instead of going out and doing something important. But enough of that, thank you for posting about such an emotionally disturbing place to remind us what can happen when power is abused.